Gangster Squad: A great-looking mob film from Warner Bros. — historically the go-to studio for this kind of thing — with Sean Penn as real-life mobster Mickey Cohen, who was trying to invade Los Angeles in the 1940s, and Ryan Gosling as the L.A. cop trying to keep him out. It looks more like The Untouchables than The Godfather, with lots of guys in fedoras with machine guns. It’s one of the troubled movies of last year. It was pulled from the schedule after Colorado theatre shootings because it has a scene of mayhem in a movie theatre. Looks like Jan. 11 is going to be a busy day. (Jan. 11)

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Zero Dark Thirty: Kathryn Bigelow, who was named best director in 2008 for The Hurt Locker, returns with this story of the long hunt for Osama bin Laden and his eventual assassination by Navy SEALs.
It’s a true-life adventure, but as Ben Affleck showed in Argo, knowing how it turns out doesn’t necessarily sap the tension — and the bin Laden story is a doozy.
The film itself opened in some U.S. cities in December and was named the year’s best by the New York Film Critics, the National Board of Review and others. See it before the Oscars. (Jan. 11)

Photograph by Jonathan Olley

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World War Z: The best-selling zombie book by Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks, by the way) is also having a slow lurch to the movie theatres.
Brad Pitt, who also produced, stars as a researcher seeking the reason for a worldwide zombie infestation, a mystery that could take three movies, but only if this one — at $180 million and rising, the most expensive zombie film in history — ever gets done.
Filming started in 2011, and has been delayed several times, once when Hungarian officials seized firearms used in the film because they were real and not props, and most recently when the ending was rewritten. Fiasco or blockbuster of the living dead? (June 21)

Photograph by Photo Credit: Jaap Buitendijk

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World’s End: Sounds like another apocalyptic action movie, but it’s really another Simon Pegg-Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) collaboration. This one is about five friends who reunite in a bid to retrace the staggered steps of a legendary pub-crawl. At first, it’s a group thing. But they eventually discover the fate of the world rests on their slumping shoulders. Fellow cast include Rosamund Pike, Paddy Considine and Martin Freeman, ensuring there’s more than enough teeth to handle whatever needs chewing.

Photograph by Getty Images

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The Great Gatsby: The sweeping romance of a Baz Luhrmann movie is always worth looking forward to, and his adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel — a film that was delayed from Christmas when the director banged his head and needed stitches — looks sumptuous.
It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as his love, Daisy, and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, the narrator, and co-stars a glittery set design that already has us drooling. (May 10)

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An Enemy: Since we’re on the subject of crossover hits from Quebec, who isn’t curious to see what Incendies director Denis Villeneuve will do with his big-budget adaptation of Jose Saramago’s novel about a man who sees his doppelganger in a movie theatre. Jake Gyllenhaal stars while red-blooded Canadians such as Sarah Gadon fill out the cast alongside Isabella Rossellini.

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Oldboy: It’s not an original idea, but we can’t resist the idea of this makeover of an ultraviolent 2003 Korean movie about a man mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years who seeks revenge on his captors.
Spike Lee directed this one, with Josh Brolin as the anti-hero. We’ll see if the American version can match the dark secret of the original, or the unwatchably bloody conclusion. (Oct. 11)

Photograph by Stuart Wilson

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Devil’s Knot: Not to be confused with the documentaries West of Memphis or Paradise Lost, this is a fictional feature film about a group of teenagers accused of killing children as part of a satanic ritual. That may not sound like something to look forward to in 2013, but consider this: It stars Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon, with Atom Egoyan directing. Now, if that’s not a knot worth tying, no engagement is.

Photograph by Chung Sung-Jun

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Saving Mr. Banks: As a palate-cleanser, here’s a story that couldn’t be purer: the inside scoop on the making of Mary Poppins.
Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney — how’s that for all-American casting? — and Emma Thompson is P.L. Travers, the Australian who wrote the book and who looks back on the difficult childhood that inspired it. Think of it as a Christmas bonbon. (Dec. 20)

Photograph by Marion Curtis

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The Lone Ranger: This is another troubled production that’s been kicking around since 2002 when Tonto was going to be a female love interest.
Well, times change and now Johnny Depp plays the faithful Indian companion to the gunman (Arnie Hammer) who wears a mask, fires silver bullets and stands up for all that was good and right (and campy) in the Old West.
Those of us weaned on the 1950s TV show hope it’s to the strains of the William Tell Overture. (July 3)

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Baja Dunes: Neill Blomkamp made District 9, one of the best sci-fi films of recent years. Now he’s back with this adventure (originally titled Elysium) set in 2159, when the rich live in a fancy space station and the poor live on a ruined Earth (well, they told us we were going to inherit it.)
It’s up to Matt Damon — another matchless action hero — to cut the one-percenters back down to size. Perfect: fantasy with a social agenda. (Aug. 9)

Photograph by Matt Sayles, Invision, The Associated Press

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A Good Day to Die Hard: Is this the end of John McClane? Whether we want to admit it or not, there’s something rather sweet and cuddly about this action franchise that launched Alan Rickman’s career. Bruce Willis is fun to watch as the supercop who saves his family — and the day — and the world, time after time.

Photograph by Stephen Lovekin

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The Delivery Man – We’ve seen lots of French movies remade in English. But we’ve never actually seen a French-Canadian movie made by Hollywood. This one is a remake of Starbuck, the mega-grossing blockbuster from Ken Scott starring Patrick Huard as a sperm donor who meets his many, many, many children. With Vince Vaughn as the oblivious patriarch, this could mark the beginning of a whole new English-French friendship.

Photograph by ROBYN BECK

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Now You See Me: If you’re a sucker for magic, this one looks great. Jesse Eisenberg plays the leader of a gang of magicians who rob banks during their performances. And Mark Ruffalo is the cop who has to stop them with the help of magic debunker Morgan Freeman.
The trailer has us convinced that there’s a fantastic secret at the end that will explain how slickly we’ve all been fooled. But maybe that’s just part of the illusion. Whatever. Astound us! (June 7)

Photograph by Jason Merritt

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Man of Steel: Here we go again with the “faster than a speeding bullet” and “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound” (Single Bound would be a good name for a Superman movie, by the way.)
Like an old bedtime story, the Superman tale ever draws us back.
Henry Cavill stars as the special guy, Russell Crowe takes on the Marlon Brando role as Jor-El, ex-babes Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play his Earthling parents and Amy Adams is Lois Lane. Great Caesar’s ghost! (June 14)

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Amour: We interrupt this list for an indie announcement. If you’ve never seen a movie by Michael Haneke, this might be a place to start catching up with the Austrian who made such provocations as The Piano Teacher and Cache.
The new film — winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes — is a love story between an elderly married couple whose devotion is tested when she suffers a small stroke.
Amour is small and tender and has no zombies in it. We now continue with our regularly scheduled blockbusters. (Jan. 18)

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Labor Day: Based on Joyce Maynard’s novel, this new film from Jason Reitman tells the story of a downtrodden single mom who makes the mistake of offering a stranger a ride. When it turns out he’s an escaped convict, things get a little darker than our depressive mom could have imagined. With Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin and Tobey Maguire shouldering the heavy load, this one might work so well, it’ll make you take a holiday.

Photograph by CARL COURT

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Parker: OK, we confess: We’ve got a Jason Statham (pictured in a still from the film Transporter) thing. He’s an irresistible action hero in a bunch of enjoyable B-movie adventures that show off his athletic invincibility, and this looks like another good one.
Statham plays a thief who is double-crossed by his crew and sets out to get revenge. Plus, it’s based on a book by another favourite, Donald E. Westlake. Plus, it’s a chance to find out whatever happened to Jennifer Lopez. (Jan. 25)

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Oz the Great and Powerful: A prequel to The Wizard of Oz with James Franco as a travelling magician who becomes the wizard and Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz as good and bad witches.
It’s directed by Sam Raimi, whose work in Spider-Man prefigures this epic 3D production.
The big question: Can it possibly live up to the beloved 1939 original? (March 8)

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Lamb of God: Though it’s still referred to as Untitled Diablo Cody Project by many, and may come out with a different title altogether, this will mark the second directorial effort from the screenwriter behind Juno. This one deals with religion, which may explain the murky details. All we know is it stars Julianne Hough, Holly Hunter, Russell Brand and Nick Offerman — which is quite an explosive potion before you even factor in Cody’s unique lens on life, the female experience and faith.

Photograph by Getty Images

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Star Trek: Into Darkness: I have no problem admitting that I’m a total Trekkie who used to dream of William Shatner’s gold-ringed sleeves wrapped around my quivering torso. Nor do I feel it’s “TMI” to share my fondness for this new crew of celestial wayfarers and their ability to conjure deep feelings of purpose – thanks in large part to Gene Roddenberry’s brilliantly optimistic view of humanity, but also because they all look mighty fine in those cute Enterprise uniforms.

Photograph by Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal

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Ender’s Game: Having visited the set for this science-fiction action-adventure about kids who are recruited for acts of war, I’ve been fascinated by the core ideas in Orson Scott Card’s original series of books. With screenwriter Roberto Orci (Transformers) producing, there’s a good chance the movie will be smart and original. And with the same team that choreographed the zero-G scenes in Avatar using their talents here, the whole package feels undeniably promising — and just a little eerie. (Harrison Ford stars in the film.)